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Full Idea
Why may not the Deity have something of a superior kind, analogous to our moral sense, essential to him?
Gist of Idea
Why may God not have a superior moral sense very similar to ours?
Source
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 4: The Moral Sense [1728], §I)
Book Ref
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.313
A Reaction
This is Plato's notion of the gods, as beings who are profoundly wise, and understand all the great moral truths, but are not the actual originators of those truths. The idea that God creates morality actually serves to undermine morality.
| 20773 | The origin of justice can only be in Zeus, and in nature [Chrysippus] |
| 23348 | Both god and the good bring benefits, so their true nature seems to be the same [Epictetus] |
| 5752 | Where does evil come from if there is a god; where does good come from if there isn't? [Boethius] |
| 19344 | God prefers men to lions, but might not exterminate lions to save one man [Leibniz] |
| 6254 | We are asked to follow God's ends because he is our benefactor, but why must we do that? [Hutcheson] |
| 6255 | Why may God not have a superior moral sense very similar to ours? [Hutcheson] |
| 16006 | Either Abraham rises higher than universal ethics, or he is a mere murderer [Kierkegaard] |
| 7158 | Morality kills religion, because a Christian-moral God is unbelievable [Nietzsche] |
| 7199 | It is dishonest to invent a being containing our greatest values, thus ignoring why they exist and are valuable [Nietzsche] |
| 4488 | Those who have abandoned God cling that much more firmly to the faith in morality [Nietzsche] |
| 20701 | Can God be good, if he has not maximised goodness? [Davies,B] |